Donovin Darius update

by Kurupt on Jun 26, 2007 5:30 PM EDT Comment 6 comments

Hmmmm....

Got the VText, thanks Verizon, and located the story on BB.com indicating the visit of Dononvin Darius today.

This pretty much came out of nowhere to me. Yeah, we supposedly had interest in him a few weeks ago when he was released, but we hadn't heard of anything since. Him coming in today is a sign of how serious we are about potentially signing him. Whether Darius is serious about signing here is a whole other story, but I did find this interesting:

No doubt one of the attractive qualities of the Bills for Darius is there are some familiar faces on the Buffalo coaching staff. His rookie season Darius worked under then Jacksonville defensive coordinator Dick Jauron. Bills defensive coordinator Perry Fewell was also Darius' position coach the first five seasons of his career in Jacksonville.

I knew Jauron had been on Jacksonsville's staff at one point, but I never connected him and Darius and I also didn't know Fewell had coached Darius directly for 5 seasons. To me, this could mean two things. One, both sides are VERY serious about coming to terms and two, the Bills are serious while Darius is throwing his old coaches a bone. Personally, I think it's strong mutual interest and I would not be surprised if Darius eventually signed here based on his connections with our staff and our need for a veteran safety presence but don't think it'll happen.

I know many of you are stunned that we would want to bring in a guy who has been a starter since day 1 in his career at a position we are supposedly set at. Well, as I've mentioned before, I don't think we are set. While I'm not sold on Whitner being our long term FS, I do feel he is capable of making the move if Darius is signed. I am not confident in Ko Simpson like so many other Bills fans and would not be opposed to strengthening our secondary this way. However, I'm not sure it's the wisest move bringing in Darius to start and shifting Whitner to FS. He has spent his entire time in Buffalo as our SS, but we would want to switch him for a 2-3 year stopgap potentially? I'm not sure about that. Of course, if Darius could play FS or Whitner is more comfortable at FS, then I don't think there'd be much of a problem. And this would also not be an issue if Darius was brought in strictly as our #3 safety, which I highly doubt anyways.

Overall, I think Darius could have a strong presence in our secondary, even if for 2-3 years. He is a player of high character, is driven to succeed and would bring a strong sense of leadership to a defense, and secondary especially, in need of some. Again, I'm not sure it'd be the smartest move to bring him in as a starter because I think he's a SS and a SS only, which would mean Whitner would have to switch over to FS. Of course, that may not be as problematic as I think. I still don't think it's going to happen, but ya never know.

And if Darius is signed, what does that say about Ko Simpson?

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Re: Ko

Easy - it says that Ko is a bit overrated after a pretty solid rookie season. People forget that he isn't the most fluid of athletes, doesn't have great recovery speed and in general seems to be a marginal fit in this defense.

I like Ko, but his upsided is far more limited than Whitner's. If they think they can bring in Darius in order to develop Wendling (who has similar skill sets to Darius), then I'm all for it if it means long-term our secondary will be better.

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by Brian Galliford on Jun 26, 2007 5:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Also...

Don't forget that Whitner moved to SS at OSU - to make room for Youboty at CB!

There's interesting permutations off of this, that's for sure...

This staff certainly seems to have a long range goal of versatility. I like that - a lot.

by Dock Ellis on Jun 27, 2007 10:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I guess I am in the very small minority

Frankly, I thought that Whitner played poorly last year -- and I thought that Simpson played fairly well. To me, that was evident by our run defense being awful and constantly exploited, while our pass defense was ok. I have been somewhat surprised at all the post-season praise of Whitner. I felt that it was Simpson who made a few exciting plays and showed some future promise (I realize that McGee needed better support, but Simpson was a very young rookie). Perhaps FS is an easier position to hide rookie flaws than SS (I thought that under the Tampa 2, the positions are somewhat interchangeable?). I am not saying that Darius, if he comes in, shouldn't be paired with Whitner (Whitner probably has better skills (and, I think, about 2 years younger than Simpson), but I hope Whitner improves on his "mistakes" resulting in big running plays that were so obvious (he needs to tackle better). Remember that Whitner and Simpson were rated somewhat similar in the draft by the "experts" before we picked Whitner early and Simpson fell.

by labill on Jun 28, 2007 12:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Don't disagree

I've felt all along that Whitner was average last year, but I don't think Simpson played fairly well. Maybe for a rookie with no expectations, but he didn't show any improvement as the season wore on.

Both have to step their games up this year. If we were to sign Darius, it'd have to push Simpson to the bench. Whitner is much better than he is.

by Kurupt on Jun 28, 2007 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

NOT cool

I would much rather see the team make an effort to sign Walker than rolling out the red and blue carpet for darius. We need dt help WAY WAY more than safety, regardless of how little these guys have played.

by trent2lee6 on Jun 29, 2007 7:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, about treatment of DW vs. Darius...

It's all about establishing respect. That's what Butler and Polian were so good at (and still are, so to speak). Donahoe got good people, but didn't establish a discipline/organizational strategy to make it fit.

by Dock Ellis on Jul 2, 2007 9:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs